The State of Video Marketing 2025: Key Trends, Insights, & What’s Next
Video marketing in 2025 is no longer optional - it's essential. With rapid changes in technology, audience behavior, and platform features, marketers must adapt or risk falling behind. Here’s everything business owners and marketing teams need to know about video marketing in 2025 and beyond.
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Why Video Marketing Still Reigns Supreme
Video Takes Center Stage: Video has become an indispensable medium for marketers in 2025, dominating online content and engagement.
Around 89% of businesses now use video as a marketing tool and 95% of marketers consider it crucial to their strategy.
Consumers are watching more video than ever – an average user spends 17 hours per week watching online videos – and over 78% of people watch online videos every week (55% watch daily).
This explosive growth means video content is projected to make up 82% of all internet traffic by 2025. In short, if your brand isn’t leveraging video, you risk missing out on where the audience’s attention is moving. And it’s not just about views: 93% of marketers report positive ROI from video marketing, the highest level recorded, and 87% of consumers say videos have convinced them to buy a product or service.
Video marketing isn’t a trendy extra – it’s now central to business success.
The Rise of Short-Form Video Content
Short-form video has taken the marketing world by storm. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have exploded in popularity, catering to consumers’ shorter attention spans with bite-sized, engaging clips.
Short-form videos (generally under 60 seconds) deliver the highest ROI of any social media format and are commanding more investment from marketers in 2025 than any other content type.
In fact, 39% of video marketers say short videos give them the best ROI and the vast majority plan to increase or maintain their spend on short-form content moving forward.
This isn’t surprising when we consider that 78% of people would rather watch a short video to learn about a product than read text. Whether it’s a clever TikTok, a trending Reel, or a YouTube Short, these quick-hit videos are highly effective at “stop-the-scroll” engagement.
Short-form success is driven by a few factors. First, the sheer scale of these platforms is enormous – 68% of all social media users now have a TikTok profile, including an astounding 86% of Gen Z adults.
Instagram’s 2 billion users are also heavily watching Reels - Reels account for 50% of the time spent on Instagram.
These platforms reward content that is snackable, entertaining, and mobile-friendly. The ideal lengths vary by platform – very short (<15s) videos perform best on Instagram, 15–60s on TikTok, while YouTube viewers will engage with slightly longer clips.
The common thread is immediacy: marketers have only seconds to grab attention. Successful brands focus on punchy storytelling and trends (music, challenges, etc.) to ride the viral wave.
Short-form video also thrives on algorithmic discovery, meaning even small businesses can reach huge audiences if their content resonates.
For marketers, the takeaway is clear: embrace short-form video for broad reach, and tailor your message to be concise, visually catchy, and platform-appropriate.
Long-Form Video Builds Trust & Conversions
Even as short-form surges, long-form video hasn’t lost its importance – especially for education, storytelling, and building brand authority.
YouTube remains a powerhouse: it’s the world’s second-largest search engine, and consumers often turn there for in-depth content. Over half of YouTube users (51%) say they are most likely to engage with a brand’s long-form videos (longer than 60 seconds) when researching that brand.
Whether it’s a how-to tutorial, a product demo, a webinar recording, or a thought leadership talk, longer videos allow businesses to convey depth and detail that short clips can’t.
Explainer videos are particularly popular – about 73% of video marketers have created explainer videos in 2025, making it the top use-case for video marketing. These help demystify products or services, and 98% of people say they’ve watched an explainer video to learn about a product, often leading them down the funnel.
Importantly, long-form content can drive meaningful results. One study found that using video content in advertising (often longer-form) can boost conversion rates by 34%.
Longer videos (like case studies or customer testimonials) also tend to earn more backlinks and shares, helping with SEO and organic reach. And on YouTube, viewers are 87% more likely to take action after seeing a product video compared to other platforms, underscoring YouTube’s strength in influencing purchase intent.
Business owners should thus balance their video strategy: grab attention with short clips, but nurture interest and educate customers with longer videos.
For example, a tech company might use TikTok for quick tips and brand personality, but publish in-depth product walkthroughs or customer success stories on YouTube.
Long-form videos, especially when they provide genuine value (think tutorials, webinars, FAQs), help establish credibility and trust. In 2025, video-savvy brands are blending both short and long formats to cover the full customer journey – quick engagement upfront, deeper information for those moving down the funnel.
Live Video = Real-Time Connection
Live video has moved into the mainstream as a powerful way to connect with audiences in real time. In the U.S. (and globally), consumers have shown they love live-streamed content – from product launches and Q&As to virtual events and shopping streams.
The live-streaming market is booming, expected to grow about 19.7% annually from 2025 to 2030. By 2027, live video streaming is projected to reach a staggering $184 billion market size, underscoring its rapid expansion.
Platforms are heavily promoting live features: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch all push live videos to users because of the high engagement they generate.
For marketers, live video offers unique benefits. It creates a sense of immediacy and authenticity – viewers can interact via comments and reactions, feeling part of an event as it happens.
On Facebook, for example, live streams average 3× higher engagement (in terms of interactions) than regular videos or posts.
Shoppers also respond to live content: half of TikTok users have bought something after watching a TikTok LIVE stream, showing how effective live demos or live shopping events can be in driving instant purchases.
This trend is essentially the modern, mobile-first version of home shopping channels – except now anyone can host a live shopping session.
In 2025, we also see brands using live broadcasts for webinars, behind-the-scenes peeks, influencer takeovers, and community-building (e.g. live AMAs or tutorials).
The key to successful live video is interaction. Savvy marketers will actively engage viewers by responding to comments, doing shout-outs, answering questions, or even incorporating audience votes and requests.
Live content doesn’t need to be polished – viewers often prefer a raw, human feel, which makes it ideal for boosting authenticity. However, planning is still important: promote your live sessions in advance to build an audience, and ensure you have a stable setup (nothing worse than a choppy stream).
Given its growth, live streaming presents a big opportunity in the next few years. Business owners can start small, perhaps with an occasional live Q&A or a product demo, and reap the engagement benefits.
As comfort with live grows, we may see more companies treating live video like a regular content channel (with scheduled live shows or recurring series) to cultivate loyal, real-time audiences.
Shoppable & Interactive Videos Are Changing the Game
2025 is also the year video becomes more interactive and actionable. Rather than passive viewing, interactive videos invite the audience to participate – whether through clickable hotspots, polls, choose-your-own-adventure storylines, or embedded forms.
This trend is all about boosting engagement and driving viewers further down the funnel within the video itself. The payoff can be significant: interactive videos boast click-through rates up to 10× higher than traditional linear videos.
By layering in interactivity, marketers can keep viewers engaged longer and prompt immediate actions (like clicking a product in the video).
A closely related innovation is shoppable video. This turns videos into virtual storefronts – viewers can click on products inside the video and be taken directly to a purchase page or see more details, seamlessly merging content and commerce.
Shoppable videos are exploding on platforms like Instagram (with product tags in Reels and Stories), TikTok (with its integrated Shopping features and “Shop Now” live streams), and even YouTube (shoppable ads and cards).
Brands that use shoppable video are seeing results: these formats can increase conversion rates by up to 30% compared to standard video content. For instance, a fashion retailer might post a video lookbook where each outfit item is clickable for purchase – turning viewer interest into a sale on the spot.
Despite the promise, adoption of interactive video is still in early stages – only about 24% of marketers have tried interactive video content so far. But interest is rising as the tools become easier to use (many video platforms now offer built-in interactive elements).
The same goes for shoppable content: as consumer comfort with in-video purchasing grows, brands have an opportunity to shorten the path from inspiration to checkout. For marketers and business owners, the actionable insight is to experiment with interactive features.
Start simple: add a clickable call-to-action at the end of your video (e.g. “Shop this now” button or a quiz question).
On social platforms, take advantage of stickers, polls, or product tags in Stories and videos. Interactive and shoppable videos make marketing more immersive and measurable – you can track exactly what viewers click or buy, gaining insight into content effectiveness.
As we move forward, expect these experiences to become more common (and consumers to come to expect them). By getting in early, businesses can stand out and delight viewers with a cutting-edge experience that doubles as a direct sales channel.
AI Video Tools & Personalization
Another game-changer in 2025 is the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on video marketing. AI is transforming how videos are produced, personalized, and optimized.
On the production side, more than half of video marketers (51%) say they’ve used AI tools to create or edit videos – think automated editing software, AI-driven captioning and translations, or even generative AI tools that create video content from text prompts.
(This figure was actually higher in 2024, suggesting some early experimentation has tapered off, possibly as marketers learn where AI adds value and where human creativity is still needed.)
Nonetheless, AI is proving useful for speeding up tedious tasks: it can quickly cut a long video into social-media-friendly clips, suggest optimal video titles and keywords for SEO, or automatically add subtitles (crucial for silent viewing, as we’ll discuss). Some companies are even using AI avatars and voiceovers to generate entire videos without traditional filming – a trend that may grow as the tech improves.
Perhaps even more impactful is AI-driven personalization in video. Personalization means tailoring video content to individual viewers or segments for higher relevance.
This can be as simple as using dynamic fields to greet a viewer by name in a video or as advanced as editing scenes based on a viewer’s interests or past behavior. The effort pays off: 84% of marketers say that personalized video content significantly improves customer retention.
In an era of information overload, viewers respond when content speaks directly to their needs. We’re seeing AI help by analyzing customer data to automatically serve the right video to the right person at the right time.
For example, an e-commerce platform might show you a promo video highlighting items in categories you’ve browsed before. Or email marketers can send personalized video messages at scale (AI inserts the person’s name, company, or relevant product into the video).
AI also powers the recommendation algorithms on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram – crucial for marketers to understand.
These algorithms learn what each user likes and surface more of that content, which means creating engaging videos can have a compounding effect as the AI shows it to more interested viewers.
Moreover, AI analytics tools can predict which part of a video is holding attention or causing drop-off, enabling data-driven edits and optimizations.
Going forward, we expect AI’s role in video to increase: from smarter video ad targeting (ensuring your video ad is seen by the most relevant audience) to real-time video content generation (imagine personalized product videos generated on the fly for each website visitor).
The bottom line for businesses: embrace AI tools to streamline your video workflow and deliver more personalized experiences, but remain focused on quality and authenticity. AI is a assistive tool – the creative vision and strategic messaging still need a human touch to truly resonate.
UGC & Influencer Video Marketing
Audiences in 2025 continue to crave authenticity, and nothing is more authentic than user-generated content (UGC) and influencer-driven videos.
UGC includes any video content created by real customers or fans – testimonials, unboxing videos, reviews, or even brand-related TikToks that customers post.
These feel more genuine than polished ads, and that trust factor makes a difference: 84% of consumers say that watching user-generated videos has at least some impact on their purchase decisions.
People trust people, so seeing everyday users or peers talk about a product can strongly influence buying behavior.
Brands are increasingly leveraging UGC by encouraging customers to share their experiences (sometimes through campaigns or contests) and then resharing that content on official channels.
Not only does this provide fresh, relatable material, but it’s also cost-effective – your customers become your content creators. Plus, featuring real customers can boost engagement and community feeling around your brand.
Influencer marketing via video has also matured. Rather than one-off sponsored posts, many companies in 2025 are forming long-term partnerships with creators and influencers who align with their brand values.
Influencers – whether mega YouTubers or micro-influencers on Instagram/TikTok – excel at producing content that resonates with their followers. Collaborating with them can lend credibility and help your message reach niche communities in a voice that doesn’t feel like an ad.
For example, a fitness equipment brand might partner with several fitness YouTubers who incorporate the equipment into workout videos; or a B2B software company might work with a LinkedIn influencer to discuss industry trends via short video clips.
These partnerships work best when the influencer has creative freedom to present the product in an authentic way; audiences can tell when something is a forced advertisement versus a genuine endorsement.
The metrics underscore why this is important: videos are the most shared type of content on LinkedIn, for instance, and an influencer’s video on any platform can achieve engagement rates far beyond what a brand’s own account might get.
TikTok creators with over 10 million followers see an average engagement rate around 10.5% (and even those with smaller followings average ~9.7% engagement) – numbers that traditional brand accounts often struggle to reach.
Additionally, influencers often bring deep cultural understanding of their audience, enabling content that clicks with viewers’ interests and trends.
For marketers, tapping into UGC and influencers is a way to humanize your video marketing.
Some actionable ideas: highlight customer testimonial clips on your website or social feed, start a hashtag challenge to get users creating TikToks about your brand, or co-create a video series with an influencer in your niche. Authentic storytelling through customers and creators can build trust and community around your brand in a way that polished ads might not.
Think Mobile-First: Vertical & Silent Video
Today’s video consumers are overwhelmingly on mobile devices, so a mobile-first approach is essential. More than 79% of U.S. consumers prefer watching videos on their smartphone over any other device.
Globally, over 75% of all video viewing happens on mobile screens.
This has huge implications for how videos should be formatted and delivered. Smart marketers in 2025 design videos with the small, vertical screen in mind.
Shooting in vertical orientation (9:16 aspect ratio) is now common for platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. This isn’t just about fitting the screen – vertical videos actually perform better, yielding about 130% higher engagement than traditional horizontal videos on mobile-focused platforms.
The reason: vertical video fills the entire phone screen, creating an immersive, scroll-stopping experience without requiring the user to rotate their device.
Besides format, optimize for sound-off viewing. A vast majority of social videos are watched on mute by default – for example, around 74% of Facebook videos are watched without sound (users often scroll in public or at work with volume off). So captions and on-screen graphics aren’t just accessibility features, they’re critical for communication.
Adding subtitles or text overlays to every video ensures your message gets across even if the viewer never turns the sound on. It’s also wise to use eye-catching visuals in the first 2–3 seconds (to hook viewers) and consider using background music or voiceover as complementary rather than essential elements.
Being mobile-first also means considering speed and file size – ensure your videos load quickly on cellular connections by using modern compression and maybe shorter length where possible.
It ties into platform strategy as well: each social platform has its own nuances (for example, text-heavy intros might work on LinkedIn but not on TikTok; quirky effects and filters thrive on TikTok but look out of place on Twitter). Many marketers smartly repurpose content across platforms, but with tweaks for each.
In fact, 48% of social media marketers share similar video content across multiple platforms with minor adaptations, rather than reinventing the wheel for each channel.
This is a good efficiency practice: for instance, a longer YouTube video can be cut into teaser clips for Instagram or LinkedIn. Just remember to format (vertical vs. horizontal), caption, and length-optimize for the platform.
A consistent message across channels, delivered in platform-native ways, ensures you meet your audience wherever they are.
Cross-platform integration can pay off: companies using a multi-channel video approach see about 30% higher overall engagement than those focusing on just one channel.
The strategy for 2025 is clear – think mobile, think multi-platform, and tailor your video content to provide a seamless, engaging experience on every screen.
The Future: AR, Social Commerce & Smarter Personalization
As video marketing grows, it’s not without challenges.
Competition for attention is fiercer than ever – with so much video content (YouTube alone sees 500 hours of video uploaded every minute), breaking through the noise requires creativity and strategy.
Brands will need to continually experiment with content styles, storytelling techniques, and emerging formats to avoid “content fatigue” among viewers.
There’s also the challenge of measurement: tying video efforts to bottom-line results. While most marketers agree video delivers great ROI, attributing sales or leads to a specific video can be tricky.
Thankfully, analytics tools are improving – marketers can track views, engagement, click-throughs, and even conversion events from videos more reliably now. Advanced analytics and A/B testing for video (e.g. which thumbnail or title yields better watch rates) are becoming common, enabling a more data-driven approach to video optimization.
Another challenge is keeping up with platform changes and algorithms.
What’s trendy today (say, a certain TikTok style or Instagram Reel feature) might change next quarter. Marketers must stay agile and keep an eye on where the audience moves.
For instance, if Gen Z starts favoring a new video-centric platform, brands targeting that demographic will need to adapt quickly.
There’s also the area of budget and production quality. While making video content is more affordable than before (many marketers can create decent videos in-house with just a smartphone), expectations are also rising.
Consumers in 2025 have seen a lot of video; 91% say the quality of a brand’s video influences their trust in that brand.
That means low-effort, sloppy videos could even backfire. However, quality doesn’t always mean big budgets – authenticity and clarity matter more.
It’s about effective storytelling and solid execution on an appropriate budget. Interestingly, surveys show mixed perceptions on cost: about one-third of marketers feel video is getting cheaper to produce, one-third see no change, and a quarter say it’s getting more expensive.
The takeaway is to allocate budget wisely, focusing on the types of video that yield results for your business, and to leverage cost-saving tech (like editing apps or freelance creators) when needed.
Looking ahead, video marketing will only become more immersive and integrated.
We expect to see more augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) video experiences – for example, AR filters that allow customers to virtually “try on” products in videos, or VR video demos for an immersive feel.
The AR/VR market is projected to grow ~9% annually and hit $62 billion by 2029, and while much of that is beyond just marketing, it signals growing consumer readiness for immersive content.
Social commerce will likely become standard: as Gen Z and young Millennials embrace buying directly from video streams, every platform will refine its shoppable video features. We’ll probably see YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram deepen their e-commerce integrations even further, making videos a direct pipeline to purchase.
Personalization might go to the next level too – imagine video ads that dynamically change scenes or products shown based on the viewer’s profile. And of course, AI will continue to evolve, possibly giving rise to tools that can generate highly realistic spokesperson videos or automate entire campaign’s worth of video variations targeted to different audiences.
On the flip side, authenticity will remain paramount. If AI makes content creation easier, the market will be flooded with videos – making genuine, human storytelling even more valuable to stand out.
Brands that can convey human connection, entertain, or tell meaningful stories will foster loyalty. Additionally, aligning video content with values can pay off.
For example, highlighting sustainability or social responsibility in videos can boost brand image: about 72% of consumers say they’re more likely to engage with brands that showcase their sustainability efforts in content.
In sum, the future of video marketing is dynamic – full of new tech, but also requiring a human touch. Business owners and marketers should be prepared to continually learn and adapt.
The good news is that audiences are hungry for video (83% of consumers want to see even more videos from brands), so the opportunity is there.
The next few years will reward those who stay creative, data-informed, and audience-centric in their video strategy.
Actionable Takeaways for 2025
In a rapidly evolving video landscape, here are some practical tips to ensure your strategy stays on point:
1) Prioritize Short-Form Video for Reach
Incorporate platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts into your plan. These formats are delivering top ROI – focus on making the first few seconds of each video extra engaging to hook viewers. Monitor trending topics and sounds to piggyback on viral waves, but keep the content authentic to your brand.
2) Leverage Long-Form for Depth
Don’t abandon longer videos. Use YouTube (and webinars or IGTV/LinkedIn for B2B) to provide value through how-tos, demos, interviews, or webinars. These build trust and expertise – and can directly drive conversions (video in campaigns can lift conversion rates by ~34%). Consider breaking longer videos into chapters or segments for easier consumption, and always include clear calls to action (e.g. subscribe, learn more, contact us).
3) Go Live and Be Interactive
Experiment with live streaming on the platform that best fits your audience – maybe Facebook/Instagram Live for consumer brands or LinkedIn Live for B2B webinars. Promote live sessions in advance and prepare a rough script or outline. During the stream, engage viewers by name and respond to questions in real time. Similarly, add interactive elements where possible (polls, quizzes, clickable links). For product videos, try shoppable tags or end screens that let viewers take immediate action. These tactics keep viewers engaged longer and nudge them closer to purchase.
4) Optimize for Mobile Viewing
Ensure vertical video formats and captioning are standard in your production process. Design videos that work well muted – use captions, bold visuals, and on-screen graphics to tell the story. Check that text is readable on a small screen (no tiny fonts!). Also, test your video on a phone before publishing: is the thumbnail clear? Does the hook in the first 2 seconds grab attention? Mobile optimization will significantly improve completion and engagement rates.
5) Use AI to Scale, But Review for Quality
Take advantage of AI tools for efficiency – for example, auto-subtitle generators (to caption videos quickly), AI video editors that suggest the best clips, or even AI content idea generators. These can save time and cost. However, always review and polish AI-generated outputs. Ensure the editing style matches your brand and that any AI-written text or voiceover feels human. Use personalization tech to send targeted video content to segments (like different videos for different customer cohorts), but make sure each video is genuinely useful and not just personalization for its own sake. In short, let AI handle the grunt work, while you focus on the creative strategy and messaging.
6) Encourage UGC and Collaborate with Creators:
Actively encourage your customers to create videos – perhaps via contests (e.g. “Share your unboxing video for a chance to be featured”) or by creating community hashtags. Repost the best UGC (with permission) on your channels, as social proof. At the same time, identify influencers or happy customers in your niche and consider partnering with them. Provide guidance on key messaging, but allow their authentic voice to shine through. These collaborations can dramatically extend your reach and add credibility, as viewers tend to trust content coming from real people. An ongoing ambassador program with micro-influencers can be more effective than one-off big influencer ads, as it builds relatability over time.
7) Measure, Learn, and Iterate
Treat video content like an ongoing experiment. Use analytics from each platform (or your website) to see what’s working. Track metrics like view duration, click-through rates on interactive elements, social shares, and conversion events (like sign-ups or sales after watching). For example, if you notice viewers drop off at the 50% mark of your video, investigate why – maybe the video is too long or there’s a dull segment. A/B test different thumbnails or titles on YouTube to improve your play rate. The goal is to close the feedback loop: use data to refine your content. Over time, this will improve your ROI even further, as you zero in on the video topics and styles your audience loves most.
Ready to Leverage Video in 2025?
By implementing these tactics, business owners and marketers can harness the full power of video marketing in 2025. The landscape will keep changing – new features, algorithms, and consumer preferences – but a strategy built on engaging content, smart use of technology, and genuine connection with your audience will always yield results. Video marketing is a journey, not a one-time project, so keep learning, stay creative, and enjoy the process of telling your brand’s story through this dynamic medium.
Now that you know what works in 2025, let’s put it into action. Reach out today and let’s build your video strategy together.